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VATICAN CITY - The Vatican released a letter Friday in which Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo apologizesprofusely to the pope for hurting him and for scandalizing the Catholic Church by getting married earlier this year.
The letter, dated Aug. 25, was written four days before Milingo met face-to-face with his South Korean wife Maria Sung in a central Rome hotel and told her he was leaving her to return to the Catholic fold.
"I am so deeply sorry for the suffering and the great pain I have caused you personally, and for the scandal that I have visited on the Catholic Church, not to mention the three religious communities I oversee," the Zambian cleric wrote.
"I ask for your benediction, your love and your forgiveness. I am, Holy Father, your humble and obedient servant," Milingo, 71, signed off.
The letter marks a deeply repentant return to the Church and the Vatican, which Milingo appeared to spurn when in May he married Sung, 43, in a ceremony overseen by Rev Sun Myung Moon, the head of the Unification Church.
After the marriage, the Vatican threatened Milingo with excommunication, putting added pressure on the archbishop, who had already drawn disapproval for performing colorfulfaith-healing ceremonies and exorcisms in Zambia and Italy.
For four months Milingo and Sung lived together in New York, but nearly a month ago Milingo turned up unexpectedly in Rome and went to see Pope John Paul II, apparently to make amends.
In his letter to the pope, Milingo recalls that meeting and how he knelt down before the Holy Father to kiss his feet and ask forgiveness, like Mary Magdalene in the scriptures.
"I put myself in the clothes of the sinful woman in the Bible who continued to bathe the feet of Jesus with perfumed oil until she received consoling words of forgiveness from him, who was her master and creator," Milingo wrote.
ALIVE AGAIN
He goes on in the five-paragraph missive to relate how the pope had then raised his right hand toward Milingo and "spoken the words which still resonate in my ears":
"'In the name of Jesus, return to the Catholic Church."'
Milingo says that was all he needed to hear. "It was as if you had said, 'Milingo was dead and now he is returned to life'," the African prelate wrote in the letter.
The Vatican's release of the letter is perhaps the closing chapter in a month-long saga of love and spiritual longing which has engrossed Italy and Catholics worldwide with its potent mix of pathos, melodrama and occasional farce.
The defining showdown came Wednesday when Milingo met Sung at the Arcangelo hotel near the Vatican and told her he had decided to choose the Church over his love for her.
"My commitment to the life of the Church, including celibacy, does not allow me to be married," Milingo wrote in a handwritten letter, which was also released by the Vatican.
For 16 days before that meeting, Sung had been on a hunger strike, a dramatic step she decided to take after she claimed the Vatican had abducted her husband and drugged him in order to get him to return to the fold.
She said she would not eat until she saw her husband again.
After the meeting, Sung told reporters she loved her husband still, but would honor his decision.
"I have promised myself that I will live the rest of my days alone," she said, looking pale and drawn.
She is due to return to the United States Saturday, leaving Milingo to "return to my brother bishops," as he wrote to the pope.
ROME, Italy -- The Korean wife of a Roman Catholic archbishop has accepted his decision to dissolve their marriage and return to the church.
Maria Sung married Emmanuel Milingo in a ceremony organised by Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the head of the Unification Church movement.
But the union caused outrage in the Catholic church and Milingo, former head of the Zambian diocese in Lusaka, was threatened him with excommunication unless he chose his faith ahead of his wife.
Earlier this month the archbishop travelled to Rome for an audience with Pope John Paul II, followed by his wife, after which he disappeared and was said to be considering his position.
On Thursday Sung told reporters: "For the great love for my husband, I'll respect his decision to leave me. But that does not change the feeling I have for him in my heart."
She said she would never be with another man and would try to support Milingo in his work throughout her life, saying she hoped they would be reunited "in the afterlife."
Milingo had given her a rosary as a parting gift, Sung said, and "expressed love to me as a brother to a sister."
Milingo announced he had left his wife in a television interview last week, saying he had embraced the pope's appeal to return to the Catholic church and keep his vow of priestly celibacy.
Sung, who at one point believed she was pregnant, refused to believe his television revelations.
She claimed he had been drugged and went on a hunger strike for 16 days demanding that the Vatican allow her and Milingo to meet face-to-face.
The couple were reunited on Thursday for three hours at the Arcangelo hotel in Rome, accompanied by a host of Vatican officials, where he gave her letter explaining his reasons for dissolving the marriage.
"My commitments in the life of the church, with celibacy, don't allow me to be married," the letter said.
"The call from my church to my first commitment is just."
Sung's spokesman, the Reverend Phillip Schanker, described the three-hour meeting as "wonderful."
"Both of the them expressed a lot of love for each other," Schanker told reporters outside the hotel. "We all learned a lot of important things. Everyone present was crying."
It was not immediately clear what effect the saga would have on the Unification Movement or the Vatican.
Massimo Introvigne, head of the Centre for Studies on New Religions in Turin, Italy, told the Associated Press that neither side won out in the end.
He called the public relations handling of the episode by both sides "disastrous."
"The Vatican achieved a final result of keeping Milingo in the fold, but it is not a winner because it had a number of PR problems due to Maria Sung's hunger strike," he said.
But Introvigne added the Unification Movement may have weakened its own cause by accusing the Vatican of drugging and kidnapping Milingo.
VATICAN CITY -- The soap-opera saga of an archbishop who ran afoul of the Vatican by getting married came to an end with his wife accepting that he was leaving her and saying she hopes they would be reunited in the afterlife.
But religious experts say the impact of the Emmanuel Milingo affair is likely to linger -- although more so for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification movement than the Vatican, which has weathered plenty of scandals in its 2,000-year history.
The Unification movement, they say, may have hurt its cause of trying to gain more mainstream respectability by accusing the Vatican of having drugged, brainwashed and kidnapped the archbishop -- accusations often leveled against sects.
The Vatican made mistakes too, but it may take longer for Moon's movement to recover, said Massimo Introvigne, a noted Unification expert and the head of the Center for Studies on New Religions in Turin, Italy.
Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and Maria Sung parted ways Wednesday night, ending a saga that captivated Italy for weeks as Sung and her Unification supporters demanded the Vatican let her see her husband.
After three weeks of separation, the two met for three hours Wednesday evening at a Rome hotel. Milingo explained his reasons for why he had to leave her because of his commitments to the church; she said she accepted them.
``For the great love for my husband, I'll respect his decision'' Sung told reporters after the meeting ended. ``But that doesn't change the feeling I have for him in my heart.''
She spoke from inside a hotel window to avoid the crush of reporters outside -- adopting a similar tactic used by the pope nearly every week in his appearances at St. Peter's Square.
She said Milingo had given her a rosary, that she would try to support him always, and that she hoped they would be reunited ``in the afterlife.''
Sung and Milingo were married in one of Moon's group weddings May 27. Milingo had said celibacy was poisoning the priesthood and said his marriage to Sung would allow God's blessings to be given through their new family.
The Vatican, already enraged by Milingo's exorcisms and faith healings, threatened the former head of the Lusaka, Zambia, diocese with excommunication. It suspended the threat after Milingo met with Pope John Paul II and said he was returning to the church.
Sung launched a hunger strike demanding to hear it straight from Milingo, and 16 days later the Vatican consented to a supervised meeting.
``I think everybody lost in this case,'' Introvigne said in an interview Wednesday.
``The Vatican achieved a final result of keeping Milingo in the fold, but it's not a winner because it had a number of (public relations) problems because of Maria Sung's hunger strike,'' he said.
The Vatican has excommunicated archbishops before -- the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the former Archbishop of Hue, Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Thuc, among them.
But it was less willing to let Milingo go -- in part because he commands a following of several thousand believers in Africa and Italy, Introvigne said.
The Vatican had feared Milingo might break from the church and consecrate his own noncelibate bishops.
Milingo's prominence was likely what persuaded the Unification movement go to the lengths it did to try to negotiate with the Vatican, said the Rev. J. Gordon Melton, director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California.
``It could have helped them, as small as they are, if he had stuck with them and spent his last years with them,'' Melton said.
A Unification spokesman, the Rev. Phillip Schanker, has said Sung's supporters were merely trying to ensure that Milingo had made his choice to leave Sung freely.
Milingo never publicly said he was joining the movement and said he always wanted to remain part of the Roman Catholic Church. Most Catholics consider Moon's doctrines beyond the bounds of core Christian beliefs.
In the end, Melton said, the only real victim is Sung, a 43-year-old South Korean acupuncturist and five-year member of the Unification movement.
``If there's any blame, it's Milingo going through the ceremony with her -- especially if he was having any thoughts of returning to the church at any point,'' Melton said.
Milingo didn't apologize to Sung in a letter delivered to her Wednesday night, but said he shared in her suffering and would pray for her every day.
``God's blessings will accompany you for all of your life,'' he wrote.
ROME - The wife of a Roman Catholic archbishop said Wednesday she had accepted his decision to leave her after the two met for the first time in three weeks, ending a saga that had embarrassed the Vatican (news - web sites) and captivated Italy.
``For the great love for my husband, I'll respect his decision'' to leave me, Maria Sung told reporters late Wednesday. ``But that doesn't change the feeling I have for him in my heart.''
She said she would never be with another man and would try to support Milingo in his work throughout her life. She said she hoped they would be reunited ``in the afterlife.''
She said Milingo hadn't asked her forgiveness for having left her. But he ``expressed love to me as a brother to a sister.''
Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and Sung met for three hours at the Arcangelo Hotel in Rome, where he delivered a letter to her explaining his reasons for leaving her.
``My commitments in the life of the church, with celibacy, don't allow me to be married,'' Milingo said in the handwritten letter, a copy of which was sent by the Vatican to news organizations. ``The call from my church to my first commitment is just.''
He said he was aware of Sung's suffering, and that he would pray for her every day.
The two were married May 27 by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in a group wedding at a New York hotel that outraged the Vatican already incensed by Milingo's exorcisms and faith healings. Moon is head of the South-Korea based Family Federation for World Peace and Unification Movement.
It wasn't immediately clear what lasting effect the scandal would have on either the Unification Movement, which has been striving for mainline respectability, or the Vatican.
Massimo Introvigne, a noted Unification expert, said neither side won out in the end, calling the public relations handling of the episode by both sides ``disastrous.''
``The Vatican achieved a final result of keeping Milingo in the fold, but it's not a winner because it had a number of P.R. problems because of Maria Sung's hunger strike,'' he said.
The Unification Movement, meanwhile, may have weakened its own cause by accusing the Vatican of drugging and kidnapping Milingo - accusations that have in the past been leveled against sects, said Introvigne, head of the Center for Studies on New Religions in Turin, Italy.
Sung's spokesman, the Rev. Phillip Schanker, called the three-hour encounter a ``wonderful meeting.''
``Both of them expressed a lot of love for each other,'' Schanker told reporters gathered outside the hotel. ``We all learned a lot of important things. Everyone present was crying.''
The case not only embarrassed the Vatican, but also raised concerns that Milingo, once the head of the Lusaka, Zambia diocese, might break from the church and consecrate his own noncelibate bishops. Before announcing his return to the church, Milingo had said celibacy was poisoning the priesthood.
Last week in a prime-time television interview, Milingo announced he had left Sung, saying he had embraced Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II's appeal to return to the Catholic Church and keep his vow of priestly celibacy.
Sung said at the time she didn't believe him and suggested that he had been drugged. She has been on a hunger strike for 16 days to press her demand that the Vatican let her see Milingo face-to-face.
In the end, the two never met privately. At least five members of Sung's entourage were on hand, and even more from the Vatican side, Sung said.
Sung, a 43-year-old South Korean national and member of Moon's church, hadn't heard from the 71-year-old Milingo since Aug. 8, the day after he met with the pope in a bid to avert his threatened excommunication for having gotten married.
The Vatican hasn't disclosed his whereabouts, saying only that he has been on a spiritual retreat. Sung had said she believed he was being held against his will.
Milingo, wearing a black suit and a crucifix around his neck, left the hotel in a Vatican car after the meeting, but his destination wasn't known.
Sung appeared before reporters shortly thereafter, announcing her acceptance of Milingo's decision and her own decision to end her hunger strike.
She said Milingo had given her a rosary as a parting gift.
She wouldn't answer any questions about what her future plans were.
Maria Sung, al secolo Sung Ryen Soon, la donna che per amore del marito monsignor Milingo ha sfidato il Vaticano minacciando di lasciarsi morire, è già stata sposata con Salvatore, impiegato statale napoletano di 53 anni.
La protagonista dello scandalo dell’estate, che pur di non separarsi dal presule guaritore ha inscenato la clamorosa protesta, a base di digiuno ad oltranza e mobilitazioni anti-cattoliche, si è unita in matrimonio il 25 agosto del ’95 con un seguace partenopeo del reverendo coreano. Dopo aver inscenato la sua campagna senza precedenti contro la Santa Sede sulla avvenuta violazione dell’amore coniugale e dell’eterno vincolo matrimoniale, la consorte ripudiata per Ragion di Stato, solo cinque anni fa ha abbandonato la sua dolce metà.
Del matrimonio erano a conoscenza anche i suoi colleghi del Vomero. In particolare il dottor Italo Sabelli, agopunturista napoletano, racconta dell’attività svolta da Maria Sung. «Sapevo che era sposata con un mio concittadino - spiega il dottor Sabelli - teneva le sue sedute a domicilio, alternando i massaggi alla pratica dell’agopuntura». Il marito napoletano di lady Milingo ha accettato di restare nell’ombra per avallare la strategia della setta, alla quale rimane ancora legato pur non essendone più formalmente un adepto. Cade, quindi, l’intera costruzione dell’assalto mediatico alla Chiesa cattolica, l’intrigo che ha polarizzato l’attenzione del mondo.
La donna che ha mantenuto segrete le sue nozze con l’impiegato di Napoli è la stessa che quattro giorni fa ha invitato il Pontefice, con una accorata lettera, a spingere l’arcivescovo africano al faccia a faccia che si è svolto ieri. «Qualora lui esiti - aveva scritto Maria Sung a Giovanni Paolo II - Santità lo esorti lei ad avere riguardo nei miei confronti e degli impegni che ha assunto». L’«eroina» che per mantenere intatto il nucleo familiare costituito da lei e da monsignor Milingo (la famiglia è il fondamento intangibile e perpetuo della fede in Moon) ha in passato abbandonato senza tante esitazioni il tetto coniugale. Il precedente sposo Salvatore, brizzolato, di media statura, con gli occhiali e sempre vestito in maniera casual, ha cercato in ogni modo di ricomporre la traballante unione con Maria Sung, ricorrendo perfino agli assistenti di coppia che all’interno della setta hanno il delicato incarico di sanare le fratture coniugali.
Nella missione moralizzatrice dei seguaci del santone orientale, gli sposi sono considerati i nuovi Adamo ed Eva, immuni dal peccato originale e del tutto indivisibili. Il matrimonio tra Maria e Salvatore, celebrato in Corea dal guru miliardario e non registrato civilmente così come non lo è stato quello con monsignor Milingo, è entrato in crisi dopo circa un anno e mezzo. Salvatore, grande appassionato di musica classica, ha trasmesso a Maria la passione per i concerti, ai quali assistevano soprattutto il venerdì al Conservatorio di Napoli. Nel ‘96, però, Maria Sung, nonostante l’appello rivolto dal marito ai leader unificazionisti, è tornata improvvisamente in Corea, dove la sua famiglia d’origine è proprietaria di numerose attività commerciali avviate grazie all’aiuto economico di Moon. L’impiegato partenopeo, naufragate le sue nozze con la futura signora Milingo, si è progressivamente defilato dalle iniziative dell’organizzazione, pur non arrivando alla rottura con la gerarchia. Ciò spiega il suo eclissarsi, indispensabile per rendere credibile il bluff della consorte in lacrime, alla disperata ricerca del suo Emmanuel.
Svelato il segreto che si nasconde nel suo passato, è possibile ora far chiarezza sull’intera vicenda. Ogni qual volta nei colloqui con i giornalisti o nelle conferenze stampa le venivano rivolte domande su sue eventuali precedenti relazioni coniugali, Maria Sung ha sempre tagliato corto bruscamente, affermando di aver scelto di parlare esclusivamente del caso Milingo. La giustificazione era dunque quella di non voler distogliere l’attenzione dei mass-media dalla scomparsa dello sposo adorato, «tenuto segregato dal Vaticano e persino drogato» secondo la sua interpretazione. In realtà lei sapeva che proprio qui era racchiusa la contraddizione della sua battaglia, condotta a colpi di proclamata eternità del vincolo matrimoniale e di assoluta dedizione al consorte. Per una setta incentrata sul culto assoluta della famiglia perpetua, impossibile da separare in terra, sarebbe stata improponibile una campagna moralizzatrice condotta attraverso una seguace già sposata e che ha lasciato il primo marito.
In numerosi incontri con i giornalisti, Maria Sung ha preteso di sedersi sotto un cartellone con la scritta: «Non osi separare l’uomo ciò che Dio unisce». «Quando l’ho vista in televisione - racconta il dottor Italo Sabelli, specialista in agopuntura con studio medico nel popolare quartiere del Vomero - ho ricollegato subito. Mi sono ricordato della signora coreana, sposata con un napoletano, che andava nelle case ad applicare le tecniche di agopuntura e di fisioterapia. Di solito le sedute domiciliari sono svolte da personale non laureato o immigrati orientali.
La signora Sung, comunque, aveva fama di essere una brava professionista. Massaggi ed agopuntura le consentivano di integrare lo stipendio percepito dal marito». In realtà il legame tra Maria e Salvatore entra in crisi anche per il difficile adattamento della futura signora Milingo alla realtà napoletana. Il pensiero di Maria corre frequentemente alla sua precedente vita in Corea. I dissapori all’interno della coppia diventano aperto contrasto, tanto che la donna inizia ad allontanarsi da Napoli per confidare le difficoltà matrimoniali ai responsabili della setta che a Roma raccolgono il suo sfogo.
Salvatore cerca in ogni modo di riconquistarla, facendo leva sulla scelta compiuta da quello che considerano il nuovo Messia. A scegliere l’impiegato partenopeo come marito della futura lady Milingo è stato infatti il fondatore della setta. Dopo le nozze Maria ha atteso tre mesi prima di seguire Salvatore a Napoli. Doveva risolvere alcuni problemi legati alle aziende di famiglia. Poi il grande salto dalla Corea del Sud all’Italia e, dopo due anni, la fuga nel suo passato, il ritorno nel suo ambiente abituale e il perdurante legame con la setta ritenuto l’unica certezza. Poi il silenzio fino al 27 maggio scorso, quando le clamorose nozze con monsignor Milingo l’hanno proiettata sulla ribalta mediatica mondiale. Con un segreto lasciato all’ombra del Vesuvio.
CITTÀ DEL VATICANO «Ci rivedremo nell’Aldilà; e io resterò sola tutta la vita». Dalla finestra al pianterreno di un piccolo albergo nel quartiere Prati, in Roma, Maria Sung annuncia alla folla di giornalisti la decisione presa dopo tre ore di colloquio con Emmanuel Milingo, il suo marito di un’estate.
Finalmente l’ex arcivescovo di Lusaka ha trovato il coraggio di affrontare l’agopunturista coreana, anche se ben accompagnato: «Da parte nostra c’erano almeno cinque persone, e del Vaticano anche di più - ci ha detto l’inteprete iraniana - e per Maria e Milingo non c’è stata la possibilità di parlarsi da solo a solo». Ma hanno pianto tutti molto, secondo Philip Shanker, il portavoce di Moon. «E’ stato un incontro meraviglioso e pieno di significato - commenta - abbiamo imparato un sacco di cose. E’ stato molto profondo, hanno espresso amore l’uno verso l’altro. Un profondo scambio fra quest’uomo e questa donna, e tutti piangevano».
Emmanuel ha dato una lettera a Maria, e le ha regalato un rosario; Maria sembrava persino bella, alla finestra, nella sua giacca blu scuro coreana, il volto grave di chi ha preso una decisione generosa, e intende rispettarla. «Il mio impegno nella vita della Chiesa tramite il celibato, non mi permette di essere sposato», le ha spiegato Milingo porgendole la lettera di chiarimenti, appena si sono visti. Le sue parole devono essere state persuasive, tanto che la donna, che da 16 giorni rifiutava ostinatamente di toccare cibo, ha garantito al suo ex marito sostegno «nella sua missione e nella sua vita». «Gli ho promesso che vivrò da sola per tutta la vita», ha aggiunto.
Come in ogni copione ben scritto, lo «snodo» è arrivato imprevisto. Philip Shanker ha convocato i giornalisti, per annunciare, dopo una giornata che sembrava orientata al pessimismo, che l’incontro si sarebbe tenuto forse nei prossimi due giorni. E mentre parlava Maria usciva quatta quatta dalla stanza, e dall’albergo, per recarsi all’incontro con Milingo a qualche centinaia di metri di distanza, in un hotel dal nome significativo: «Arcangelo». I «Moonies» hanno organizzato anche una falsa partenza, un’auto con qualcuno nascosto sotto delle coperte per tirarsi nella scia fotografi e cineoperatori. E in parte ci sono riusciti.
L’orologio segna una decina di minuti prima delle diciannove, quando Maria e Emmanuel si rivedono per la prima volta, dalla sera del 6 agosto. L’alberghetto, carino, stile primo Novecento, nel quartiere più «piemontese» di Roma è presidiato da agenti di polizia e vigilanza vaticana; quelli che in genere proteggono il Papa stasera sono lì a difendere la privacy del vescovo e di quella che ritiene di essere sua moglie. Tanto che firma, sul «libro d’oro» dell’hotel: «Grazie per tutto. Dio vi benedica. Mrs. Maria Sung Milingo». C’è persino Navarro Valls; ma dopo i primi tre quarti d’ora di colloquio se ne va. Incominciano l’attesa, e l’assedio. La tranquilla strada si popola di telecamere e microfoni. Nelle trattative si era convenuto per un incontro ragionevolmente breve. Le ore passano, e incomincia a insinuarsi il dubbio che forse non tutto sia così lineare come si pensava. Due ore, tre ore.
Alle 21,50 agenti e sorveglianza si animano, creano un corridoio fra il portone dell’hotel e la vettura blu scuro, senza targa vaticana, ferma davanti. La diga umana riesce a trattenere a stento fotografi e giornalisti mentre Emmanuel Milingo, in clergyman, il volto gonfio, segnato, gli occhi bassi esce in fretta, spinto più che accompagnato, dal’albergo e si infila in auto. Un’altra auto ospita l’inteprete coreana, altri funzionari vaticani. Nessun prelato. Il piccolo corteo decolla sgommando fra gli ultimi flash, e appare Philip Shanker, sorridente, come un vero vincitore della giornata, ad annunciare che Maria parlerà, fra poco; «vuole parlare a ciascuno di voi, ma non schiacciatela, rispettatela, viene dal digiuno». Interrotti, ormai, spiega il medico curante, perchè ha visto Milingo.
Ma non si fidano giustamente della delicatezza della stampa, e decidono di farla parlare da una finestra. Appare infine - le ventidue sono ormai passate da un pezzo - Maria, e al suo fianco Mahile Zahedi Iusto, iraniana di origine, italiana di matrimonio e interprete. Maria accenna un piccolo inchino di saluto verso la folla; ha l’aria triste e compunta. Parla in coreano, Mahile traduce: «Grazie al vostro impegno stasera ha potuto incontrare suo marito. Sembra che il problema fondamentale fosse la mancanza di conoscenza da parte di Maria del regolamento della chiesa cattolica. Mons. Milingo ha chiesto a lei con cuore sincero...e per l’amore grande che lei sente verso suo marito rispetterà il suo desiderio. Ma questo non significa un cambiamento del suo cuore. Farà del suo meglio per sostenere mons. Milingo nella sua missione e nella sua vita fino alla fine, dal momento che hanno avuto questo rapporto di marito-moglie. Il suo amore verso di lui non cambierà, fino a quando non si incontreranno nell’aldilà. Questa sera ha rotto il suo digiuno, per non dare dolore a mons. Milingo, e ha promesso di rispettare il suo desiderio. Ha fatto promessa a se stessa che vivrà da sola fino alla fine». Milingo le ha chiesto perdono? «Non ha chiesto direttamente scusa, a parole, ma ha detto che il suo amore verso di lei non cambierà, un amore da fratello e sorella».
ROME - Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo finally faced his wife tonight, handed her a rosary and told her he was indeed leaving her to return to priestly life, apparently ending an embarrassing episode for the Roman Catholic Church.
The archbishop and Maria Sung said their goodbyes at a downtown hotel, in the company of about half a dozen Catholic officials and a roughly equal number of followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who had married the two in a multiple wedding in New York in May.
After the meeting, a church minivan sped out of a parking garage under the building, carrying what appeared to be the archbishop crouched in the back under a blanket. A few minutes later, Ms. Sung peeked out a hotel window and told reporters, "I promised him that I will live alone for the rest of my life."
It was the first she had seen of her husband in more than three weeks, since he left her to meet with the pope then unexpectedly reconciled with the church and disappeared without a word. They had dinner plans, Ms. Sung has said, and she concluded that church officials must have drugged and kidnapped him.
She later ripped apart a letter he had written to explain himself, and refused to believe his televised remarks renouncing their marriage. At daily news conferences in the weeks since, she threatened to starve herself to death until the archbishop delivered the news in person.
Tonight, Ms. Sung said she had called off the hunger strike and decided to abide by his decision to end the marriage.
"Archbishop Milingo has asked me with a sincere heart to respect his wishes," Ms. Sung said, and spoke of "the great love that I feel for my husband." She said she did not interpret his decision as an emotional rejection. "This doesn't mean there is a change in his heart."
Had he apologized? "He did not ask directly with those words, but he said that his love for me will not change and will remain like that between a brother and a sister."
The archbishop married Ms. Sung, a 43-year-old Korean acupuncturist, after losing his Vatican post last year as a result of differences with church officials over exorcisms and healings he had performed both here and in his native Zambia.
There was no immediate comment on what church officials see ahead for the archbishop now that they have him back in the fold. Tonight, the Vatican confirmed the obvious, that the meeting had taken place, and released a copy of the letter the archbishop had written Ms. Sung.
"My commitment to the life of the church, including celibacy, does not allow me to be married," wrote the archbishop, who is 71. "The calling of the church is my primary pledge and the right one."
At one point, the archbishop compared himself to a drowned man whose body had washed up first on one shore and then on another: "America deposited me on the shores of Italy. And Italy has carried me on to the beach of my Church, to the Vatican. And it is here where my people have opened their ears to me again, and they have carried me not to the grave but to a point where the spirit in me is revitalized."
He signed off by saying, "I sympathize with your suffering. I am with you in everything."
The Rev. Phillip Schanker, of Mr. Moon's organization, said that everyone at the meeting had been moved. "There was a deep exchange of feelings," he said.
At her hotel window, Ms. Sung said her immediate plans were uncertain but spoke of meeting her husband again in the hereafter.
ROME - Roman Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo met his wife for the first time in more than three weeks on Wednesday and told her he was leaving her to go back to the church, a decision she said she accepted.
"I will do my best to sustain Monsignor Milingo in his mission and in his life until the end," Maria Sung told reporters.
The couple's meeting brought to an end a bizarre saga that has kept Italy hooked during the August lull.
The Zambian archbishop scandalized the Vatican by marrying the Korean acupuncturist in a mass wedding ceremony organized by Rev Sun Myung Moon in May.
The two met on Wednesday in a hotel a few streets away from the Vatican, where Milingo handed Sung a letter saying he sympathized with her suffering but that he had to return to the Church.
"My commitment to the life of the Church, including celibacy, does not allow me to be married," the 71-year-old archbishop wrote.
The handwritten letter, released by the Vatican while the three-hour meeting was still going on, continued: "The calling of the Church is my primary pledge and it is the right one."
After Milingo left the hotel, besieged by reporters, Sung appeared at a first-floor window to say she would continue to stand by Milingo, even if they were not together.
"Because of the great love I have for him, I will respect his desire. But that does not mean I have had a change of heart," she said, adding that she had not yet decided whether to return to the United States, where the two lived after their wedding.
"I have promised myself that I will live the rest of my days alone," the 43-year-old said, looking pale and drawn after a 16-day hunger strike.
She had refused to eat until she saw Milingo face to face.
Milingo, already in trouble with the Vatican for his colorful healing ceremonies and exorcisms, returned to Rome earlier this month to make amends with the Church, which threatened to excommunicate him if he did not renounce Sung and Moon.
After meeting Pope John Paul, he vanished from public view, prompting Sung to start her strike.
SISTER SUNG
Milingo addressed his letter to "My Dear Sister Maria Sung," before launching into a poetic description of his recent life as being like drowned bodies washed around by the tides of fortune.
"America deposited me on the shores of Italy. And Italy has carried me on to the beach of my Church, to the Vatican.
"And it is here where my people have taken me in again and have carried me not to the grave but to a point where the spirit in me is revitalized," the Zambian prelate wrote.
Members of Moon's Unification Church who have been working with Sung in Italy said the meeting had been very moving and that everyone in the room had cried.
Speaking in her native Korean through an interpreter, she said Milingo had not specifically asked her to forgive him but had said his love for her had not changed and would continue to be that of a brother for a sister.
"He gave me a letter and he gave me a rosary to keep," she said.
A tired-looking Milingo was hurried out of the hotel by a team of police and bodyguards without answering a barrage ofreporters' questions.
ROME -- The wife of a Roman Catholic archbishop said Wednesday she had accepted his decision to leave her after the two met for the first time in three weeks, ending a saga that had embarrassed the Vatican and capitvated Italy.
``For the great love for my husband, I'll respect his decision'' to leave me, Maria Sung told reporters late Wednesday. ``But that doesn't change the feeling I have for him in my heart.''
She said she would never be with another man and would try to support Milingo in his work throughout her life. She said she hoped they would be reunited ``in the afterlife.''
She said Milingo hadn't asked her forgiveness for having left her. But he ``expressed love to me as a brother to a sister,'' she said.
Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and Sung met for three hours at the Arcangelo Hotel in Rome, where he delivered a letter to her explaining his reasons for leaving her.
``My commitments in the life of the church, with celibacy, don't allow me to be married,'' Milingo said in the handwritten letter, a copy of which was sent by the Vatican to news organizations. ``The call from my church to my first commitment is just.''
He said he was aware of Sung's suffering, and that he would pray for her every day.
The meeting concluded shortly before 10 p.m. -- three hours after it began.
Sung's spokesman, the Rev. Phillip Schanker, called it a ``wonderful meeting.''
``Both of them expressed a lot of love for each other,'' Schanker told reporters gathered outside the hotel. ``We all learned a lot of important things. Everyone present was crying.''
The two were married May 27 by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in a group wedding at a New York hotel that outraged the Vatican already incensed by Milingo's exorcisms and faith healings.
The case not only embarrassed the Vatican but also raised concerns that Milingo, once the head of the Lusaka, Zambia diocese, might break from the church and consecrate his own noncelibate bishops. Before announcing his return to the church, Milingo had said celibacy was poisoning the priesthood.
Last week in a prime-time television interview, Milingo announced he had left Sung, saying he had embraced Pope John Paul II's appeal to return to the Catholic Church and keep his vow of priestly celibacy.
Sung said at the time she didn't believe him and suggested that he had been drugged. She has been on a hunger strike for 16 days to press her demand that the Vatican let her see Milingo face-to-face.
In the end, the two never met privately. At least five members of Sung's entourage were on hand, and even more from the Vatican side, Sung said.
Sung, a 43-year-old South Korean national, hadn't heard from the 71-year-old Milingo since Aug. 8, the day after he met with the pope in a bid to avert his threatened excommunication for having gotten married.
The Vatican hasn't disclosed his whereabouts, saying only that he has been on a spiritual retreat. Sung, a member of Moon's Family Federation for World Peace and Unification Movement, had said she believed he was being held against his will.
Milingo, wearing a black suit and a crucifix around his neck, left the hotel in a Vatican car after the meeting, but his destination wasn't known.
Sung appeared before reporters shortly thereafter, announcing her acceptance of Milingo's decision and her own decision to end her hunger strike.
She said Milingo had given her a rosary as a parting gift.
She wouldn't answer any questions about what her future plans were.
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